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Berlin for Breakfast
By | July 31, 2007
John Valentine, founder of the original flightpledge sight, is travelling by train around Europe this year and we are posting his experiences here on LowFlyZone. . . Seeing European destinations by train is one of the most rewarding ways to travel [Ed.]
‘Yes, we know you are against short and medium haul flying – but what’s the alternative?’ All campaigners against leisure flying have to deal with that question, and in my case the answer is straightforward – the alternative way to get to middle-distance European cities is by train, and in particular by using the European sleeper network.
Increased flying is mopping up all the carbon dioxide reductions we are making in the other sectors of the economy, and short and medium distance flights are the worst offenders. Figures quoted in the Observer in January suggest that a London to Paris trip by train emits about 10 times less CO2 than by air, measured city centre to city centre: London to Berlin seven or eight times less.
But savvy travellers use the sleepers for another reason - they are the only way to arrive in Berlin (or Barcelona, or Rome, or Vienna, or Zurich) in time for breakfast, with a full day for meetings or sightseeing ahead. To arrive at that time by air, you need to leave in the afternoon or early evening of the day before (not often a cheap flight time of day) and check into a hotel for the night. And similarly, on the way back sleepers are the only way to arrive in London from those and many other destinations with a full day ahead.
Sleeper trains are the most efficient mode of travel for short breaks – they move you while you are asleep, and give you maximum time on arrival. And this is in addition to the usual advantages of train over air – check-in half an hour before you leave, no baggage problems, facing seats with legroom, city centre to city centre, and a generally more relaxed attitude.
So this is the schedule for a typical three-day break in Berlin. We left Waterloo on the 19.13 Eurostar to Brussels on a Wednesday evening, arriving with just under an hour to find the Deutsche Bahn sleeper train to Berlin – plenty of time, as in Brussels both Eurostar and the international sleeper trains use the same station, Gare du Midi, and the platforms are less than 10 minutes apart.
The German trains have been recently refurbished, and four of us had two adjacent twin bed standard sleeping compartments, extremely cosy with duvets, towels and a handbasin – loos and showers are at the ends of the carriage. One and three-berth compartments are also available, and we could have paid more for en-suite compartments, or less for beds in a four or six berth couchette. The train left Brussels at 23.30, and, thanks to the fairly liquid picnic we had enjoyed on Eurostar, it didn’t take any of us long to get used to the idea of sleeping on the move.
We weren’t conscious of anything much until we stopped at Hanover at 6.05 where some passengers got off and carriages were decoupled, but quickly went back to sleep on the straight fast run into Berlin. At 7.15 a buzzer woke us and soon afterwards breakfast was delivered, eaten as we travelled through the dark Berlin suburbs. The train stops at three Berlin stations, each 10 minutes after the last. The first is Berlin Zoo, which was the pre-1989 terminus in West Berlin for passengers who had travelled through the East German corridor; the second is the magnificent new Hauptbahnhof station which opened in May 2006, a new station for a new capital city and a tourist attraction in its own right. The third and last station is Ostbahnhof, the old terminus from trains from East Germany and the Soviet bloc countries. All are part of the city’s integrated public transport system.
Rested and breakfasted, we had found our hotel and deposited our luggage by 9.30. We stayed in the hotel on Thursday and Friday nights, and had a full day in Berlin on Saturday as well because our return train left HBF just before 21.30. The trip back to London was not quite so restful because the train arrived in Brussels at 6.09, and on Sundays (but not on other days) there is an hour wait there for a Eurostar, so we arrived in Waterloo at 9.30 rather than the weekday time of 8.26.
The return trip cost £190.00 per person in a two-berth sleeping cabin. But the cost of one or two hotel nights in Berlin should be deducted from that, because to have three full days at our destination using air travel would have required an outward flight arriving on the Wednesday, and probably a return on Sunday morning – four hotel nights in Berlin, rather than our two. And we had no journey to and from Gatwick or Stanstead or Luton, no need to arrive three hours ahead of time, no wait in line for a hour to check in, no watchful armed police and heavy security. It was fun, and a bit exciting, and guilt-free - and it’s been a few years since air travel has been any of those.
Booking notes
The new St Pancras station and the high-speed link to the Channel Tunnel open in November 2007. Paris and Brussels are the main European departure hubs – Paris is a bit more complicated than Brussels because Eurostar arrives at Gare du Nord, and international services leave from a number of different stations, so a Metro journey is usually required.
The first point of reference for information is the invaluable site www.seat61.com, which gives detailed advice on train times, approximate costs, and the different accommodation available. Having decided on date and time, book the London – Paris or Brussels leg via the Eurostar website, and the onward journey through the RailEurope or SNCF sites. There are also a number of agencies that will take phone bookings (for a fee) – these are listed on the seat61 site. Bear in mind that booking for most destinations opens 90 days before departure, although Eurostar can be booked 6 months ahead – it may well pay you to book Eurostar as far ahead as possible, and the onward trip as soon as booking opens. As with air fares, the cheapest prices are the early ones.
It sounds complicated, and a rationalisation is promised, but it works!
Topics: Alternatives to Air Travel, European Destinations, Holiday by Train, John Valentine, Rail Travel, Stop Flying Stories, Your Experiences |